I still think about one migration project where everything was green until the final month. We did not have the luxury of extending the deadline. This was tied to external regulation and compliance, so missing the date was not really an option. We had to make it. Up until that point, the project had been reported as green. Then, almost […]
As organizations grow across geographies, one thing becomes disproportionately important. Culture. We, engineers, often dismiss culture as soft and cushy. This is until you see the hard costs of ignoring it. Culture isn’t just how we feel about work; it is the distributed operating system for how decisions are made when leadership isn’t in the room. There is company culture, […]
In 1935, Boeing had a new bomber prototype, the Model 299, which later became the B-17. It was impressive, and it was also easy to mess up because it had more switches and steps than pilots were used to. During a demonstration flight, the aircraft lifted off, climbed, then stalled and crashed. The investigators did not conclude that the pilots […]
In the Roman Forum, there was a small shrine with double doors. When Rome was at war, the doors were left open. When Rome was at peace, the doors were closed. It is an oddly modern idea. A binary signal. A public status indicator. At a glance, you knew what state the system was in. Open meant war. Closed meant […]
If you’ve been in leadership for a while, you know the drill: a line manager reports team progress along with the PM, anyone above reviews it in cadence and sees how things are moving. As business shifts, priorities shift, so you need to adjust without losing continuity or direction, from one cycle to the next. We all hate meetings, but […]